More than 230,000 Haitian Children to Benefit from Improved Schooling

The World Bank finalized a $24 million grant to Haiti that will help 230,000 children attend schools and receive quality education through tuition waivers and other forms of support. While the Haitian Constitution states children have the right to an education, the vast majority of schools are private and charge fees. Even with public schools, the cost of uniforms can be prohibitive. More information on the "Education for All" program is available here. The full announcement follows.

Haitian Minister of Economy and Finance Marie Carmelle Jean-Marie and World Bank Special Envoy Mary Barton-Dock signed today a grant of US$24 million from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to help 230,000 children attend school and receive quality education through tuition waivers and other support. The funding complements an ongoing Education for All project of US$85 million managed by the World Bank. "This additional financing focuses on the Government’s priorities to increase school enrollment and attendance in disadvantaged areas, and improve the quality of teaching," said Marie Carmelle Jean-Marie, Minister of Economy and Finance.

In Haiti, over 80 percent of primary and secondary schools are private, which makes it difficult for poor families to send their children to school. Most children in primary school are over age for their grade, and many do not complete basic education. “Poor families at times spend up to 60 percent of their income on the schooling of their children. These challenges are compounded in rural areas by greater poverty and difficult access to schools,” said Mary Barton-Dock, World Bank Special Envoy to Haiti. “With this support, the Bank is not only helping increase the reach of the Education for All program, but also improving the quality of teaching for disadvantaged Haitian children,” she added.

Over the last three years the World Bank, with the support of the Global Partnership for Education, has financed about 290,000 school fee waivers for primary students in non-public schools, about 237,000 daily meals reaching about 81,000 students per year, and one-time grants for 2,824 schools, allowing them to re-open after the 2010 earthquake. “It is one of our top priorities to support fragile countries and we are glad to see that our funding is helping children from some of the most deprived areas to get a quality education,” said Alice Albright, Chief-Executive-Officer, Global Partnership for Education. Among concrete results to be achieved by the Education for All project, including the additional funding:

1) Financing of more than 420,000 school fee waivers, allowing disadvantaged children to enroll in private schools,

2) Provision for more than 110,000 students of a breakfast snack and a hot lunch each day, as well as vitamin A supplements and deworming services every year,

3) Improved teaching and reading instruction materials,

4) Construction of 160 classrooms in community based schools.

This additional funding is channeled through the Education for All project, which is implemented by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. The Education for All project is jointly financed by the World Bank, the World Food Program (WFP), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).